


Private Investigation

by arrafrost



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 13:55:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1690688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrafrost/pseuds/arrafrost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles is a detective assigned to keep an eye on Derek Hale, The number one suspect on Laura Hale’s murder. A couple weeks go by, and Derek finally confronts Stiles, knowing he had been following him from the start.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Private Investigation

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [Torah's art](http://torakodragon.tumblr.com/post/83475195039/detective-stiles-stiles-is-a-private-detective)

Derek Hale. That had been Stiles’ life for the past couple of weeks. And not in the way he would definitely deny ever imagining it.

Charting where Derek Hale went, running background checks on everyone Derek Hale met (which wasn’t a long list to go through), keeping tabs on what Derek Hale bought, making note of all Derek Hale’s actions, what Derek Hale wore, what expressions Derek Hale made in the mirror…

Derek Hale decides to pick up a caterpillar on the sidewalk and return it to the safe grass and Stiles has to friggin write it down.

As though that caterpillar would be pertinent to their investigation. It certainly doesn’t do anything to diminish the feelings Stiles is totally not feeling because man can we say unprofessional.

Sure Stiles isn’t the most professional detective in the strictest sense but he is a damn good one. Detective that is.

He has the best lead on Derek. No one else could possibly have hoped to get all the information Stiles has gathered on this man. The charts were massive and literally covering the walls of his office.

But the amount of information and how long Stiles has been watching him with no suspicious behavior all points to one verdict.

Stiles is dead sure Derek had nothing to do with the murder of his older sister. He couldn’t have. He might not have an alibi and he might look like an ax murderer to people who haven’t studied every intricate detail of Derek Hale’s facial expressions… but that isn’t evidence to support his guilt. Derek is innocent. Stiles feels it in his gut and more importantly he feels it from his research.

That’s what Stiles is going to tell his superiors tomorrow. Everyone working on the case will be convinced even if he has to lock them all in the same room for a week and go through every single one of Stiles’ charts and records on Derek Hale. Every. Last. One.

Except Derek does something different tonight. Usually Derek rents a movie or sits in his living room reading a book while listening to classical music. He’s the kind of guy to stay in, especially after how hard his sister’s death had apparently hit him. Stiles recognized a lot of the behavior, the minor gestures, that look in his eyes… it was all familiar to him.

Stiles had gotten used to following Derek on foot. The man took a lot of walks. But it didn’t usually involve this part of town where the alleys turned into a genuine labyrinth. Stiles had lived here most of his life but he could easily get lost in them. Seriously what on earth was Derek even doing in this sketchy neighbourhood?

Yet Stiles continued to trail after Derek around the corners and down dimly lit alleys. His better judgment told him to pull back, call for back up, it was dangerous being alone and lost with a suspected murderer. But Stiles’ gut persisted.  _He’s innocent._

“Why are you following me?”

“Holy shit!” Stiles jumped about twelve feet into the air, scraping his back on the brick wall Derek had crowded him into.

Derek’s hands were on either side of Stiles’ head, pinning him in place and he looked  _pissed_.

It wasn’t that Stiles was a bad detective or that he didn’t have a crap ton of self-defense training. It was that  his brain lost all ability to think with one Derek Hale literal inches away from his face with all that stubble and glaring and scowling and Stiles had to not venture into that part of his mind and instead focus on getting out without breaking cover.

“I… um…”

“You… um…?” Derek imitated with an impatient growl.

“I’m… looking for drugs?” Stiles attempted, trying to impersonate a drug addict.

“You think I sell drugs?” Derek asked, unimpressed but with a hint of curiosity Stiles couldn’t quite place. As though he would have found it funny if Stiles actually thought that about him.

“No… I… actually…” Stiles tried to force his uncooperative brain into overdrive to come up with a lie but it was rather difficult to think with about 185 pounds of gorgeous man invading your personal space. So naturally Stiles blurted out, “I thought you might have been a prostitute and I wanted to pick you up!”

That was a new facial expression Stiles had yet to catalog.

There was a certain level of amusement on Derek Hale’s face, but there was also intrigue. And that was… well… intriguing.

Before Stiles could get a coherent, or unintelligible, sentence to form on his tongue and explain why he chose to view Derek Hale as a rent boy, Derek Hale was already leaning further into his personal space.

Derek tilted his head, licked his lips, and let his gaze settle on Stiles’ parted lips that were taking in short, nervous breaths. “And what would you do if I were for sale,  _Detective_?” He whispered into his ear, making Stiles whimper and arch up into that heated voice. Oh the things he would – wait a minute.

Stiles’ eyes flashed open immediately, ignoring the fact that his body betrayed him on an exponential level, because he was staring in fear and question at the suspect who officially broke his cover.

“How did-“

“You’ve been following me for weeks.”

“You’ve known I was following you? There’s no way!” Stiles shouted, straightening his back to stare wide eyed and slightly offended at Derek, momentarily forgetting the position he was in.

“You’re not that subtle.”

“I am too!”

Derek Hale’s brow rose as if to say ‘are you twelve?’

“I um… I am one of the best-“

“I’ll admit you are good at hiding your presence and making yourself scarce, but no one can follow me without me knowing. I’m very… in tune with my surroundings. No one has pulled it off, not even the best detective Beacon Hills can muster.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes suspiciously, getting more into Derek’s space and making sure to properly react to the realization that they were actually the same height later (even though he knew that from his research it still amazed him when they were up close and personal). “You mean, you’ve been  _letting_ me follow you around for two weeks? Without saying anything? If you were aware the whole time it ruins everything!”

Derek frowned, seeming genuinely concerned. Stiles read the question in his face and sighed.

“If you were aware of me following you, then it means everyone in this investigation is going to think that you altered your actions, interactions, everything-“

“Altered them how?”

“To appear innocent. Which is what I was convinced of but now… So much research all down the drain just because-“

“Innocent of what?” Derek snarled, though from his down it sounded like he already knew the answer.

“Of murder,” Stiles swallowed hard. He didn’t want to do this to Derek. He had seen the look on his face, that deep-set anguish in his eyes like the world had suddenly become gray and void. Everything about Derek these past weeks was exactly what Stiles saw in his Dad after his mother died. There is no way to fake that kind of agony. 

Derek scowled, teeth clenching hard. Stiles heard scraping against the wall next to his head, where Derek’s hands were, but he ignored it. Instead he focused on trying to catch Derek’s gaze.

“I’ll figure it out,” Stiles reassured him with a firm voice. “I’ll convince them you weren’t aware of me or… make them go through every inch of evidence I have. They have nothing to prove you’re guilty, even  _if_ they throw all my research out the window.”

Derek tilted his head, staring back into Stiles’ eyes but he couldn’t get a read on him. “Why?”

Stiles blinked. “Why what?”

“Why are you this dedicated to proving my innocence?”

Normally Stiles would point out that Derek’s counterproductive sentence implied he was guilty. But now wasn’t a time for Stiles to be a smartass.

“Because you are innocent.”

“Your research tells you this?”

“Well… mostly yes.”

“Mostly?”

“I’ve seen death, Derek.” Stiles sighed, “I’ve seen the impact it makes, what it takes away from those who’re left. It doesn’t matter if you groomed all your interactions to look as reputable as possible, I’d still believe you had nothing to hide. You’re innocent. I know you are.”

 Derek paused for a moment, eyeing Stiles up as if he was searching for something… listening for something. For Stiles to laugh maybe and tell him he was kidding? Because there was hope in his eyes, hope that the detective believed in his own words, hope that he wasn’t going to get his hopes up about having someone trust him.

Stiles didn’t breathe. He watched Derek watch him intently and resisted the urge to bit his lip. Stupid nervous habit.

Then Derek leaned back in, “Is that a wise move, Detective? After all I have you cornered in an alleyway.”

Stiles called his bluff, ignoring the threatening tone in Derek’s voice, “Yeah and you haven’t even touched me. Why are we even here? This isn’t you.”

They stared at each other in silence for a long moment, but Stiles didn’t show him any submissive behavior. He kept his shoulders square, his back straight and never broke eye contact. Eventually, Derek backed away slightly and lowered his hands away from the wall, and from Stiles.

“I wanted to confront you.”

Instantly Stiles wanted to punch him.

“You knew I was following you, you  _knew_ I was a detective, but you ruined all my hard work of proving you were innocent just to lure me into an alley and tell me to back off? Are you kidding me, Hale?” Stiles was furious now and he started pacing to keep himself from punching the wall and breaking his hand over two weeks of wasted stake outs and sleepless nights and endless typing and charting and staring at Derek Hale. “Tomorrow!” Stiles shouted. “I was going to go in tomorrow morning and present all my innocence-proving evidence and you destroy it all the night before! Why? Why did you need to confront me? Why did you have to drag me to the most suspicious location just to-“

“I wanted to meet you.” Derek interrupted him, only raising his voice to be heard over Stiles’ rant. He ducked his head as if he was embarrassed and Stiles couldn’t believe it was anything but the truth judging by Derek’s tone and behavior. Didn’t mean he understood how Derek could be embarrassed though.

“You… what?”

“I didn’t know you were a detective. Not at first.” Derek confessed, “But I connected the dots. Wasn’t that hard, just harder to do with you watching me all the time. You’re very dedicated.”

Stiles blushed at the compliment but kept his mouth shut. Waited for Derek to get the nerve to keep talking.

“I… think your consistent presence has made this… whole situation easier.” Derek’s voice was soft and low with the secret he was confessing. “If you hadn’t been watching me I might have… done something stupid. Something Laura would never approve of. So I wanted to meet you.”

That actually made a lot of sense to Stiles, and did a lot of quiet his rage. Never mind how entirely flattered he was. Stiles wanted to believe he’d helped Derek… if only because watching him from afar and nothing being able to do anything had been brutal. Had felt too familiar for it not to hurt.

“Something stupid?” Stiles focused his attention on the present, on something relevant to his case. He could be professional and he had to be. “As in… something illegal?”

Derek laughed quietly, “Maybe. But I don’t know who killed her. I would have just… let off some steam in a nonproductive way. The same way I did after…”

 _After his entire family was murdered in the fire._  Stiles killed in the blanks. The time after the fire left a black hole in Stiles’ research. It was as though Derek vanished. Which unfortunately didn’t do anything to help his case. Even though Derek had been a kid. He couldn’t have had anything to do with the fire. But try telling that to an entire room filled with cops convinced of Derek’s involvement in Laura’s murder.

“I didn’t know your plans…” Derek’s voice was low and ashamed. Stiles glanced up to see Derek gazing up at him with a shy apology in his eyes. It was an endearing look for Derek Hale. “For tomorrow. I’m sorry I ruined them.”

The corner of Stiles’ lip quirked up as he sighed. “Nah, didn’t ruin them just… made it more challenging. I’ll figure something out. I always do.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Derek grinned and Stiles smiled immediately in return. That was a new look for Derek, and he liked it.

Stiles stretched and scratched the back of his head as the awkward silence settled in before gesturing the way they came. “So um… you should maybe leave first and I’ll follow? Kind of like how we’ve been playing this two week long game.”

“What will you write in your report?”

“I’ll make something up. I’m a good liar.”

“Yes, I noticed that when you pretended to proposition me for sex.”

To say Stiles blushed would have been an understatement. He felt hot from his ears down to his chest at the reminder of his incredibly embarrassing lie. Such a terrible one. Why did he even say that? He was such an idiot.

Stiles’ inner panic was halted when Derek’s hand brushed down his arm. He blinked, gaze flicking down to watch as his fingers traced down the sleeve of his button-up shirt. The gesture did nothing to stop him from flushing a brighter shade of red.

“It was good to meet you, Detective.” Derek smiled softly, like he didn’t have a single regret at voiding all of Stiles’ hard work.

“Stilinski!” He said hastily as Derek turned away. “Uh… Stiles. Call me-“

“Stiles.” Derek nodded, eyes lingering on his face with a hint of affection in them. Stiles never wanted to hear his name spoken by anyone else. They could never do it justice now.

Stiles watched him walk away, eyes fixed on his back as he disappeared around the corner. Once Derek’s footsteps faded and the silence took over, Stiles took the opportunity to compose himself. He leaned back against the wall, willing his heartbeat to slow down to a pace that  _didn’t_ resemble cardiac arrest. He exhaled loudly.

“Oh I am in big trouble.”

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [tumblr](http://arrafrost.tumblr.com)


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